


Ring of Fire

by postfrom1776



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Original Trilogy
Genre: Darth Vader & Luke Skywalker Bonding Time, F/M, Father-Son Relationship, Gen, Human Disaster Anakin Skywalker, Lava - Freeform, Planet Mustafar (Star Wars), Post-Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, Sad Darth Vader, Sunshine Luke Skywalker, That's Not How The Force Works (Star Wars), The Author bullshit the Force, The Dark Side of the Force (Star Wars), The Force, The Light Side of the Force (Star Wars), Wedding Rings, its worst than sand, too much lava for anakins liking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-19
Updated: 2021-02-19
Packaged: 2021-03-14 17:01:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,555
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29545521
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/postfrom1776/pseuds/postfrom1776
Summary: On a scout mission to the fire planet MUSTAFAR, LUKE SKYWALKER will unveil more secrets about his past after a surprise encounter with his father, the SITH LORD DARTH VADER. Will the questions of the young JEDI be answered? And what links to the past does this mysterious ring has...
Relationships: Anakin Skywalker & Luke Skywalker, Luke Skywalker & Darth Vader, Padmé Amidala/Anakin Skywalker
Comments: 6
Kudos: 52





	Ring of Fire

Luke Skywalker’s lone X-Wing was hovering in orbit of the fiery planet, the familiar beeping and whirring of his white and blue astromech reigning as the only sound in his cockpit.

The mission he had been assigned was quite simple: Enter the dark and ashy atmosphere and land to gather intel about the Empire in the old mining building and if possible, in the Imperial base that had been rumored to have been built on the surface

Of course, this mission could have landed onto any other pilot in the rebellion, but the thick black clouds in the atmosphere and dangerous condition of the planet asked for the best pilot in the Alliance, the one who fired the final shot to the Death Star.

As he flew above the active volcanoes of Mustafar and the silhouette of unknown installations, Leia’s voice rang in his memory.

_-“I regret that we have to send you, Luke, especially when I know that you would rather be looking for Han, but you are our best bet at getting these information about the Empire. I beg of you to be careful, it is rumoured as to be the closest thing Vader has to a homeworld”_

When she had said that, Luke had to hold himself from laughing at her face. Vader wasn’t from the volcanic wasteland, but from the same old dustball as him. Tatooine.

None of his Rebel friends knew of what had been said on Bespin, and Luke was left to himself to deal with the truth of his parentage. It had been a hard couple of weeks, coping with the loss of his hand, of Han and of the image of who his father was in his mind.

His father, Anakin Skywalker, The Hero With No Fear, Jedi Knight, hadn’t died, but fallen to the dark side. Now, he was Darth Vader, the terror of the Empire, the man who had chopped his right hand before offering him to join him to overthrow the Emperor.

Perhaps he would have rather stuck with the belief his father was a navigator on a spice freighter and that someday he would come to pick him up from the desert sand and bring him into his space adventures.

By only looking back on it, his thoughts were an overwhelming cloud of questions without answers, swirling in his mind with the power and violence of the Great Krayt Dragon.

He took a deep breath and raised his mental shields anew, as his mind had made them collapse again. Perhaps Yoda had been right, he hadn’t been ready to face Vader, he wasn’t even ready to hide and protect his own thoughts.

With a sigh, he began the landing maneuver toward a platform in a relatively remote hill, standing above one of the large lava rivers.

Seriously, he thought, who would make a base on a planet so inhospitable? At least, the intruders would keep out, but still.

As soon as he opened the cockpit, the wave of heat and the sulphuric smell hit him like an asteroid shower. The planet’s atmosphere was classified as breathable for humanoids, but it felt like choking to newcomers. If he hadn’t been so used to the dry heat of the Twin Suns and the harshness of sandstorms, he might have just abandoned the mission this instant.

Still in his flight suit, he gazed at the dark and barren land around him, the smoke of the atmosphere no longer shielding his eyes as much as it did.

His stare landed on the massive installation overviewing the region and the lava flow. This wasn’t the old mining facility, this was an imperial building.

The fortress was made of black stone and seemed positively impossible to enter, its wall towering far above Luke height’s, even from afar.

-“Artoo, have you seen how huge this is! It has to be an important base of operation, my mission might bring even more useful intel to Leia, standby until I come back, alright.” he told the droid, who responded with some non committal beeping.

Ever since they had been going on missions together, the astromech would jump out of the ship and follow after him despite his orders to stay aboard.

He smiled at the droid before beginning to walk toward the base of the fortress, skirting the flowing lava river. Each step seemed slow, the heat of the planet and the sulphurous atmosphere weighing him down as he made his way toward his objective.

As he was walking by the shore, the Force began to vibrate all around him, swirls and flashes of light and darkness only amplifying as he got closer and closer to the base of the fortress.

-“Something happened here..” he whispered aloud as he knelt to the ground, letting his gloved hand stroke the hot black sand.

As he did that, he reached into the remnants of the Force, shadows and lights of the past, scars of the events that took place here, and pulled on the faying threads until something bright began to shine within the flow of the lava.

Something was calling for him under the regular flow of magma, something strongly linked to the Light side.

Slowly, he extended his hand over the river and closed his eyes, remembering Yoda’s teaching back on the humid swamps of Dagobah. Do or do not, there is no try.

He felt the tremor of the Force glowering around him as he pulled the light out of the molten rock, revealing it to be a small metal ring.

As the ring fell into his gloved metal hand, still burning orange from the heat of the lava, the young Jedi tilted his head. How could a simple metal piece become so tied to the Force and how hadn’t it melted?

He frowned and twisted the ring in his hand, which had cooled down slightly. In the inside of the ring, words appeared to have been engraved.

_“The sky for my stars”_

-“It's a wedding band, but what is it doing down here?” As he uttered that thought, Artoo’s familliar’s whirring made itself heard.

Just how he had expected, the loyal astromech had followed him.

As soon as the blue and white droid came close enough to notice the ring, he began to screech and beep loudly, fretting on his thrusters.

-“Do you recognize it Artoo?” He asked, raising the silvery ring in front of his light sensors.

As the blond showed the ring, the droid beeped again, affirmative sounds and whirs made it clear that he recognized it.

Suddenly, the droid jerked backward and opened his holo-projector, showing Luke the image of two unknown people, looking at each other in what seemed to be so deeply in love.

The young woman was dressed all in lace, which appeared to be white despite the blue tint of the projection. The young man was a lot taller than her and wore short hair and a long cloak. It was their wedding, Luke deduced, and the ring he held was one of the two that had been exchanged that day.

This was the reason why the silver jewel shone so brightly in the Force, it was deeply linked to this profound love. It had allowed it to remain intact despite the thousand degree heat of the molten rock.

-“Who are they, Artoo?” His voice was soft, softer than the harsh planet would ever allow on its surface as he watched the holo-recording with a strange longing

The question hung heavy amongst the thousands he had in his mind as a heavy sound broke the tiny bubble of peace that had been formed around the figure of the two newlyweds.

Breathing, mechanically regulated breathing belonging to only one person in the galaxy.

Darth Vader was standing a few feet away from where he was kneeling on the lava river bank, towering and silent, only his breathing giving him away.

Artoo fell silent and closed the holo-recording as the cloaked shadow stood over the duo.

If Luke had been focusing more on his surroundings, he could have felt Vader’s presence in the Force from a mile away, his dark and cold feeling on the boiling planet was unmistakable now, surrounding the fortress and Luke both.

Leia had warned him that it could be dangerous, that he had to be careful, but he never would have imagined that he would have walked straight into another trap, right back in the Sith Lord’s grasp.

The young Jedi had frozen in place, his blue eyes landing on Vader’s mask, initial shock and fear both preventing him from taking another step. He didn't even have his lightsaber this time, it had been lost in Cloud City, along with his hand.

-“You have to work on your shielding, young one” The deep baritone voice broke the ominous rhythmic breathing pattern.

-“I, I am shielding.” Was the only answer that Luke could provide, and instantly mentally slapped himself for the patheticness of the statement.

-“Your light in the Force is brighter than a supernova, Luke. I felt it as soon as I came out of meditation.” Was the response of the Sith lord, and despite the vocoder, a hint of pride was almost felt in his voice.

-“Oh” The blond lowered his gaze in shame, he hadn’t been good enough, just as he had said earlier, not ready. As his head hung low, he caught a glimmer in the ring in his palm.

The tall figure made his way closer to him, slowly but surely and the young man didn’t feel any anger coming from their fragile bond, only deep sadness.

Had Vader’s signature always felt that depressing? Or was he just allowing Luke to see it now?

Slowly, the ring left his open palm and flew into Vader's hand, whose head was now tilted downward, studying the small object.

Luke looked up to him and for the first time found himself wondering what he looked like underneath that mask.

-“Who did it belong to?” He risked himself to have this small request, still not knowing who the young people in the holo were. The couple whose love had shielded the jewel for so long.

The loaded question was out, and the dark giant seemed to decompose at the sentence.

-“You do not recognize her, your- the woman in the holo? Have they told you nothing of her?”

The hesitation covered in fury in the mechanical voice was eerie, out of place for the imposing character that was Lord Vader. Because Luke witnessed that, in the harshness of his rage, Vader, no, his _father_ , was hiding pain, so much pain.

-“No, I don’t know who she is, neither who is the young man..”

He stopped himself, not knowing what to say anymore and in this moment, he wished he had known them, at least who they were. The melancholy that he felt was not his alone, the shiver of despair coming from the looming shadow curled around him like dark tendrils.

-“She was Padmé Naberrie, also known as Padmé Amidala. She was a senator from Naboo, and before that, the Queen.”

The words were spoken with a softness that even Vader didn’t know his voice could still possess, and as he kept on studying the soft silver ring in his hand, he allowed himself to remember, to tell his son the story of who his mother was, what a wonderful person she had been.

He deserved to know, despite all the grief it brought to him, _their_ son had to know.

-“I met her when I was 9, then again at 19. This was when the Clone War began and that this holo was taken. We married in secret, as the Jedi code doesn’t allow attachment, or committed relationships. She was my Angel. I thought I had lost this ring forever during a battle with Obi-Wan, right on this planet.”

The phrases were short, straight to the point and lacking all the beautiful eloquence he knew Padmé adored, but the tightening of his chest had stopped him from talking more about her.

-“She is my mother, then.” As he said that, he looked at the hard mask once again, and underneath the lenses, his pale blue eyes met his father’s.

_-You loved her…_

The thought felt like the only thing that mattered. His father had loved her so dearly, so deeply that the simple ring they exchanged had survived for years in this hellish world. Even today, as the right hand of the Empire, he still loved her, that rang truer than anything.

Suddenly, across their bond, his father answered.

_-I loved you and your mother more than anything in the galaxy, Luke. I still do._

His mental voice was nothing like what the vocalizer sounded like, and Luke smiled as he felt the genuine affection from his father’s words.

Slowly, the ring floated toward him again and landed in his hand again, under his astonished face.

-“I can keep it, Father?”

Father, he had called him father, aloud, for the first time. He smiled brightly as he felt the surprise and joy emanating from the cloaked figure.

-“Yes, my son, you can.” The mechanical breathing was hitched, despite the function being regulated automatically.

The silence fell again between the two, and the harsh reality sank in. Vader had found him, and he would have to take him to the Emperor, just like how he would have done if Luke hadn’t escaped in extremis on Bespin.

-“You will want me to come with you, isn’t it?”

His father looked down, toward the dark sand of the river bank, before turning his back to Luke.

-“You should return to your ship, this fortress is imprenable and the lava is far too dangerous, my son. I don’t want you being harmed.”

 _Neither by the fire, by my men or by my fault._ Our son can’t be hurt again. remained unsaid and hidden under the durasteel mental walls he had perfected along the years.

He was letting him go, his father was letting him go, Darth Vader was letting him go. The man who had put a “Alive Only” bounty on his head that was worth the amount of a planet, who had chased him and the Rebel Alliance around every star system for 3 years was allowing him to walk free off the planet.

-“What? Why? Father?”

_-You will be safer with your friends, and away from my Master. Fly my son, my starlight._

_ “The sky for my stars” _

The words were sent across their Force bond with strong love and reassurance, and the nickname brought Luke his bright smile again.

His father wanted him safe more than anything, even to the point of defying his Master, and Luke didn’t want to think about what consequences an offense of the sort could bring.

_-Thank you, Father._

He closed his fist around the ring in his palm and began his journey back toward his X-Wing, holding close the love filled metal band. He hadn’t found any intel on that mission, but gained something much more precious for the young Jedi.

There was still good in his Father, he was still Anakin Skywalker underneath all that armor, and he, his son, was the crack that would allow him to come back to the light.

**Author's Note:**

> Sunshine Boy Skywalker and Disaster Space Dad bounding, well, at least talking a bit.
> 
> This scenario came to my mind while I was looking at my own Father’s old wedding band and although in canon they never exchanged rings this plot was too good not to use. 
> 
> Also, Luke is definitely going to wear this ring on a chain or leather thread and he will ask Leia aka his senator sister about all she knows about Senator Amidala.
> 
> Hope you like, don't hesitate to leave kudos and comments they make my day!


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